IT > Office of the Vice President > Strategic Plan

IT Strategic Plan: Strategic Initiatives 2004-2007

Revised April 2005

Strategic Initiatives 7-10 (2004-2007)

7. Identify, acquire and deliver appropriate information resources to support teaching, learning, research, and outreach.

   1. Increase the materials budget by 10%. The library’s materials budget has increased by no more than 5% in each of the last three years, and in one of those years, suffered a 5% rescission. The materials budget is eroding in relation to inflation. Scholarly journals are the heart of the library’s collection, and journal inflation is advancing at a rate of approximately 9.5% per year. Savings and “deals” realized in the early days of electronic databases and journals are no longer available. Our ability simply to continue providing what was provided in the previous year is declining. [2005; LIB; funding required]
   2. Learn more about faculty interests in teaching and research, about the information faculty value, and how they use it. Use focus groups, examination of current faculty funding and publications, and other means. Adjust collection development policies in light of this information. [2004-2005; LIB]
   3. Monitor the cost-benefits of continuing to provide bibliographic databases, as better means of access evolve. [2004-2005; LIB]
   4. Make it easier to find and use information.
      1. Develop a comprehensive solution to enhance access to electronic resources, utilizing various tools including electronic resources management and reference linking systems. Hire a library technician for electronic resources management to assist in managing the reference linking system and enhancing record quality in the electronic resources management system. [2004-2007; LIB; new position required]
      2. Develop and implement tools to extract and generate information from library applications automatically, such as RSS feeds for new acquisitions and updates to electronic reserves. [2004-2005; LIB]
      3. Evaluate options for searching across databases and implement a solution. [2004-2005; LIB]
      4. Explore commercial information management solutions, develop applications, and employ other techniques to solve information access problems. [2004-2007; LIB]
   5. Promote the use of the Libraries’ materials and information in digital formats in instruction.
      1. Hire an Online Course Support Specialist. This position will work with TLT staff, the Excellence in Teaching Program, the Computing Help Desk, academic faculty, and the Assessment Office to integrate electronic information resources and digital objects into courses. [2006; LIB; new position required]
      2. Librarians and instructional designers will collaborate to develop new communication channels with faculty. Examples: a) use WebCT workshops to introduce instructional faculty to the online learning environment, b) make joint presentations to academic faculty who are contemplating use of WebCT, c) jointly prepare Web-based and paper-based literature describing services and resources available to teaching faculty. [2005; LIB, TLT]

8. Serve as a partner in building a University information environment that provides secure access to accurate and timely institutional information.

   1. Establish a means for collecting, storing, and accessing institutional digital records. The management of official digital records on campus is a challenge that requires collaboration among many organizational units. Apply information access and retrieval expertise to examining preservation, storage, and access to institutional data. Work with University administrators to develop a plan for electronic records management. [2004-2006; VPIT; 2 new positions required; see Resources Requested]
   2. Establish goals and priorities for specific projects such as the President’s State of the University address, recordings of special campus events, and digital photographs of the University. Determine scope, responsibilities, and choose storage mediums as appropriate for each category of material (e.g., external hard drives, networked storage, CDs, DVDs). [2004-2007 LIB, TLT, CTC, WEB]
   3. Expand the scope of the Libraries’ KnowledgeWorks and Digital Projects units to develop a comprehensive infrastructure that supports the lifecycle of faculty-generated digital information.
      1. Provide access to digital products of research and scholarly activities through hosting, managing, and preserving those products. Develop a suite of KnowledgeWorks services to manage digital objects and data for researchers and teaching faculty; draft policies, procedures, and a marketing plan. Example for 2005: make Seismological Laboratory shake table data available on the Web. [2004-2007; LIB]
      2. Investigate the desirability and practicality of developing an institutional repository for faculty publications and projects. [2005-2006; LIB]
   4. Develop a strategy for implementing online forms for routine transactions such as travel and leave requests. [2004-2005; CTC].
   5. Improve the functionality of the online campus directory to make it the authoritative source for directory information. Add the “general listings” section of the printed directory to the online directory. Permit corrections to the directory to be submitted online. Either eliminate the printed directory or enable production of all sections of the printed directory from the online database with limited editing. [2004-2005; TEL, CTC]
   6. Create a campus digital-signage, media distribution system. Several digital signage projects are underway on campus, including a project with the Office of University Relations (Communications Department). While the Communications Department will control the content to be displayed on plasma monitors, there is a need for technical, production and operational support. The most effective and efficient way of distributing content is from a centralized point, across the campus network to the monitor sites. [2005; TLT]

9. Implement strategies to maximize faculty and staff use of technology while minimizing the need for user support.

   1. Participate in central coordination of information technology training. At present, staff in various University units perform information technology training. Participate in a task force on training that is being organized by the director of Human Resources. Define IT and Library roles and responsibilities for training. [2005-2006; VPIT, TLT, WEB, CC, LIB]
   2. Explore the feasibility of developing a set of basic technical competencies for various categories of faculty and staff. Work with Human Resources and with existing faculty and staff organizations to assess the general level of support for this initiative. Determine whether meeting a minimum skill level would be mandatory or optional. [2004-2006; CC, VPIT]

10. Support Research and Advanced Computing Applications.

    1. Support the management of large datasets used in research. The Libraries’ DataWorks unit supports the management of large datasets and provides an advanced academic computing environment for research and instruction.
       1. Currently, DataWorks provides a four terabyte redundant distributed storage system for large dataset storage. Storage will be expanded to accommodate research needs. [2005; LIB]
       2. To assure stable, ongoing service, the Library will add redundancy to key servers, to include Mapserver (ArcIMS and Metadata servers), SQL (including ArcSDE), and SharePoint. [2005-2006; LIB]
       3. To provide a dependable and robust data backup environment for DataWorks and other Library data resources, tape library systems will be upgraded and expanded. This procurement will support a multi-tiered back-up strategy based both on daily incremental backups and monthly full system backups (stored off-site). [2005; LIB]
    2. Support advanced visualization, modeling, data analysis, and computer mathematics applications. DataWorks provides a sophisticated thin client-server environment that allows users to run advanced applications at their workstations. DataWorks systems are currently supporting the research work of a number of faculty and graduate students. At least one additional graduate assistant is required to provide consultation to users regarding the use of these advanced applications. [2004-2007; LIB; funding for one graduate assistant]
    3. Support collaboration via the Internet and Internet 2. Collaboration among researchers and collaboration for instructional purposes is becoming increasingly important in higher education.
    4. Evaluate campus licensing of Adobe Acrobat (full version). Most University desktops have a version of Adobe Acrobat installed. Forty percent of installations are Adobe Acrobat (full version), which is necessary for generating PDFs and for working with advanced forms. [2005; CC]
       1. Assess the video conferencing and distance education technology, facilities, and support provided at southern and rural Nevada UNSOM sites. Generate a plan that ensures well-developed facilities, contemporary technologies, quality support, and high levels of program and system reliability. [2005-2007; TLT]
       2. Adopt video compression standards (MPEG4\H.264) as campus standards for videoconferencing. [2005-2006; TLT]
       3. Continue to support Access Grid Node (AGN) development on campus. Communicate to campus constituents about Access Grid Nodes and the role AGNs can play in research and instruction. [2004-2006; TLT]
       4. Develop equipment and software standards for Web conferencing at the desktop. LiveMeeting, HorizonLive, and Webex are examples of software that will be considered. [2005; TLT, CC]
       5. Purchase and support collaboration software that meets the needs of faculty and administrators who need to share large documents with outside constituents. Continue to support Microsoft’s SharePoint for those constituents who find it meets their needs. [2005; LIB, CC, CTC, TLT, WEB]
       6. Develop a plan to expand the ways in which our video conference facilities are used. This may include producing videos to be incorporated into online curricula. Another use may be to record class sessions so they can be posted online or distributed via optical disc. [2005; TLT]
    5. Offer advanced consulting and information services for members of the campus community. Take an active role in the current campus initiative to support researchers. Be sure that appropriate constituents understand the services that IT and the Libraries are offering. [2004-2005; CC, LIB]